Method of extinguishing fires in telephone installations.



0. GAUTSGH. METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN TELEPHONE INSTALLATIONS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1911.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Fig.1,

Wibzesses- .lttorney.

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c. GAUTSGH. 7 METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES 1N TELEPHONE INSTALLATIONS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1911.

1,023,107. v Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

21 Fig.7.

Inventor mm Witneses- I F1 g. Attorney.

.; ED STATES PTENT- F commn GAUTSGH, or BERLIN, GERMANY.

' METHOD OF EXTING-UISHING- IN TELEPHONEINSTALLATIONS.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented A r. 9, 1912.

Application filed January 28, 1911. Serial No. 605,262.

To all whom it mo' concem:

Be it known that I, CONRAD GAU'rsoH,.a subject of the King of Bavaria, and resident of 9 Berchtesgadenerstrasse, in Berlin, in

the Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful'Im provements in Methods of Extinguishing" Fires in Telephone Installations, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new method of extinguishing fires, particularly fires which occur in telegraph, telephone and similar installations. In such installations bundles of cables are often placed in cas-' ings or boxes, and if a fire breaks out due to short circuits or the like or' is produced in effecting repairs (with a soldering torch) or in other ways, they are not easily accessible for the purpose-of extinguishing the fire or preventingthe fire from spreading.- Further, water must'not be used for extin-.

IShlDg such 'fires as it would increase the diinger of short circuits, and as the bundles areso' compact the introduction of other known extinguishing means impracticable.

rThe object of this invention is toprovide a convenient and effective methodof extinguishing such fires; For this purpose, I providea-system 'ofconduits or pipes for conducting two' diflt'erent extinguishing gases to the point of the fire and permitting saidgases to combine at the point ofv leaving the conduits or. pipes; the gases employedbeingsuch that theyjdo not support combustion and that when thev .combine they form a dry dust like powder which is deposited upon the fire and .the accessible g u i cent parts of the installation. g As practice it would be inadvisable continually to retain the gases in the pipes .01" conduitsin consequence of leakage, and: j 1 the injurious efi'ect of the gases on the pipes, '45 .the system of pipes therefore normally filled with air, and means are provided-for xon the fire carbonic acid or ammonia and sulfur dioxid, that'is, an ammonia gas and an acid In the accompanying drawings is illustrated byway of example, an installation I and apparatus by which this method may be carried out, but it will be understood that various changes may be made in the installation, apparatusand method without departing from: the scope of the invention as claimed.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic vertical sec- =tion of 'a building provided with the ap' paratus for carrying out the invention; Fig.

, 2 is a diagrammatic transverse section of'the operating tables, the boxes and the cables; Fig. 3 shows a sectional view of a three way valve used in the apparatus in the pipes 9 and 12; Fig. 4 illustrates a valve one of which is used at the upper end of each pipe 9 and 12, the same being a two way valve;

Figs. 5 and. 6 are longitudinal sectional views of suitable nozzles for discharging the gases at the proper points; Fig. 7 illustrates a side elevation of a so-called mixing stud adapted to be used with the nozzle of Fig. 5; Fig. 8 illustrates a side elevation showing the method of grounding and insulating the g'as conduits or pipes; Fig. 9 illustrates a sectional view showing the grounding and insulating means for the valve operating rods; and Fig. 10 illustrates the arrangement of the conduits or pipes-in pairs.

Referring to Fig. 1,'the telephone installation is shown arranged in a house having windows 1 and a basement 2. The operating boxes 3 with the respective tables 4.- may be arranged in the difierent stories as shown.

In the basement are provided the bottles 5 v for one gas, and the bottles 6 for the other gas, each of which bottles is controlled by a valve 7. The bottles 5 all terminate in a common collector 8 towhich is connected a pipe 9-extending upwardly. to the various stories and provided withbranch pipes 10 H leading to the operating boxes '3. Thebottl'es 6terminate in a common receptacle 11, to which connected a pipe :12 extending upwardly through the various stories of the building, side by side with the pipe 9, (Fi 10) and the pipe 12 is provided with branc pi es 10 similar to the pipe 9. i

prom the branch pipes 10 (Fig. 2) of both the main pipes 9 and 12, branch pipes 13 lead into the operating boxes 3 and under the table 4;. The branch pipes 13 are provided with mouth pieces or nozzles 14 introduced intothecable bundles 15. Each of the branch pipes 10 connected to the main pipe 9 and each of the branch pipes 10 connected to the main pipe 12 is controlled by a two-way valve shown in detail in Fig. 3.

This valve is advantageously provided with two sets of ports for the control of gas from the main pipes 9 and 12. or two such valves may be used, one for each of the main pipes 9 and 12 and their corresponding sets of branch pipes 10 and 13.

Each valve 16 is adapted, when in the normal position, as illustrated, to establish communication between the main pipes 9 or 12 and the atiuosphere by means of the pipe 18 which passes through the walls of the building as shown. Two such pipes 18 are provided when one common valve is used for each of the main pipes 9 and 12. When the valves 16 are turned to effect the position corresponding to Fig. 3, communication is established between the main pipes 9 and 12 and each of the lateral branch pipes 10 and therefore with the pipes 13 and the nozzles or mouth pieces 11.

It will be understood that the branch pipes 13 illustrated in Fig. 2, are in duplicate, and arranged side by side, so that each of their extremities may be brought together to form a common mouth piece or nozzle as illustrated in Fig. 5. One set of branch pipes 13 is connected through the respective valves 16 with the main pipe 9, and the other set through valve 16 with the main pipe 12, so that this one set of pipes serves to convey the ammonia gas while the other set serves to convey the acid gas, suchas sulphur dioxid.

In order to control the valves 16, the rotatable parts 19 thereof are eachprovided with a toothed wheel 20 which engages with a toothed rod 21 which may be pushed up from the basement when the valves are to be operated. -The two way valve 17 shown in Fig. 4 has the pipes 9 or 12 connected to it directly. saidvalve having the rotatable part 19' having a port, adapted to communicate with the pipes 9 or 12 and the pipes 10, or with the pipes 9 or 12 and the pipe 18 meant for the discharge of air within the system. The valve 17 is operated by the toothed rod 21 and toothed wheel 20, and is intended for use at the upper ends of the pipes 10 and 13.

The two gases are kept entirely separate from each other in the separate main pipes 9 and 12 and the pairs of branch pipes 10 and 13, and are not allowed to 'mix until they issue from the nozzles.

Various styles of nozzles maybe used, Figs. 5 and 6 showing suitable examples. In Fig. 5 a nozzle 14 is illustrated having the separate sets of branch pipes 13 which are placed side by side and at the end are inclined toward each other and joined together. A closing cap 22 may be placed on the top of the nozzle. Mixing studs 23 may be provided at the point of junction of the respective branch pipes 13 to have knife edges 24 for distributing the gases in streams. In F ig, 7 is illustrated one of the said studs in front view.

In the form of nozzle 14 shown in Fig. 6, the separate branch pipes 13-are placed one inside the other and the mixing studs are replaced by spiral ribs or grooves 25, 26, running in opposite directions.

In order to protect the gases against free electric currents the whole system of pipes is divided into sections wherever necessary and insulating pipes 27' (see Fig. 8) inserted between the sections, the sections being connected to earth 28 by means of the conductor29. In Fig. 9 is shown a section of the rod 21 having an insulating piece 30 for the same purpose, a section of the rod being connected to earth 31 by the conductor 32. It will be understood that by such means should current reach the pipes or rods it will be immediately conducted to earth. This arrangement is entirely effective and also protects the operator from any accidental shock and renders insulating handles. mats and the like, unnecessary.

The operation of-the apparatus is as fol-.

lows: Theseparate main pipes 9 and 12 which are connected to suitable bottles 5 and 6 for example for. ammonia and carbonic acid respectively, when the fire breaks out are filled with the gases by opening the valves 7 and the air which may have collected in the pipes is driven out through the outlet pipes 18 by the said gases. When the air is entirely driven out the valves 16 are rotated by means of the rods 21, to direct the gases into the branch pipes 10 and finally through the respective sets of branch pipes 13 into the nozzles or mouth pieces 14. Here the extinguishing gases combine right at the point of application and form upon the fire and upon the adjacent parts of the installation, a cover of a fine d'ry powder produced by the combination of the separate gases referred to.

Means areprovided for slowly drawing off the excessive quantities of gases through openings in the bottom of the apparatus, boxes 3 or of th operating tables 4, a fan 33 being used if desired. Pipes 34 are con nected to the casing of the fan and terminate in branches 35 which project into the boxes 3. the gas being discharged into the atmosphere through the pipe 36.

I claim 1. A method of extinguishing fires occurring in electric cable and circuit installation consisting in separately conveying diflerent extinguishing gases which when mixed form a solid. dust-like salt, from a place of storage and introducing them to the fire to be extinguished, and in allowing the gases to mix just before encountering the fire where- 1b a solid dust-like saltwhich is dep by a solid dust-like salt is produced and deposited on the fire and upon the accessible adjacent parts of the installation. 2. A method of extinguishing fires in bundles of cables consisting in separately introducing diflerent extinguishing gases,

in conveying extinguishing ,which when mixed form a solid dust-like salt, into the interior of the bundles of cables, and permitting thegases to unite in the interior of the bundles of cables to form osited upon said cables and .upon the access ble adjacent parts of the installation.

3. A'method of extinguishing fires occurring in bundles .of electric cab gases which when mixed form a solid, dust-like salt,

from a distant place through suitable conduits to the place where the fire has broken out, first expelling the air from the conduits by the gases passingthrough said conduits and in mixing the gases prior to their escape from the conduits. I j t i es consisting 4. Method of extinguishing fires occurring in bundles of electric cables, consisting in conveying extinguishing gases, which gases when mixed form a solid dust-like salt,

,from a distant place through suitable con- :duitsto the place where the fire has broken out, and in mixing the gases prior to their escape .from the conduits and in carrying off the excess of scribed.

gases, substantially as de- 5. A method of extinguishing fires occurname to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

4 CONRAD GAUTSOH. Witnesses:

WOLDEMAR HAUPT,

' HENRY HAsrna. 

